Freight-car ladder.



W. E. WILLIAMS.

FREIGHT OAR LADDER.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 2a, 1913.

1,093,021 Patented Apr,14, 1914.

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WILLIAM ERASTUS WILLIAMS, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

FREIGHT-CAR LADDER.

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Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 14-, 1914.

Application filed November 28, 1913. Serial No. 803,481.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM Enas'rns WILLIAMs, a citizen of the UnitedStates, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State ofIllinois, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Freight-CarLadders, of which the following is a specifioation.

The general objects of this invention are to provide a very lightinexpensive ladder which offers unusual resistance to injury by strainsapplied in any direction and which is scarcely weakened by long exposureand never corroded in such manner as to have concealed weak points.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is aperspective view of a portion of a carprovided with my devices. Figs. 2 and 3 are, respectively, views showinghorizontal and vertical sections of the ladder. Figs. 4 and 5 are viewsanalogous, respectively, to Figs. 2 and 3 but showing a modifiedconstruction.

In its preferred form, shown in Figs. 1, 2, 3, the ladder has each stilemade up of two round rods 2, 8, and the four rods are connected by roundrod rungs 4, 5, each bent inwardly near its ends so that each consistsof a straight body portion having at each end a short leg or branch, andthe legs of the rungs 5 are provided with terminal eyes 6 which arebolted to the car 1. As shown, the legs of the other rungs, 4:, do notreach the car wall and lack the terminal eyes. As indicated in Fig. 2,the stile rods 2, one on each side of the ladder, are welded at 8 toeach rung between its legs or bends, while the rods 3 are welded to thelegs or branches as indicated at 7, between the bend and the car, thestile rods and many rungs thus forming a sort of side swipe-resistingbeam having a depth indicated at 9, and a beam having a depth indicatedat 10 and offering great resistance to strains trans verse to the planeof the car wall. The great rigidity secured by this construction dependsupon welding or integrally connecting the parts, since the slightyielding practically unavoidable with other unions is, although slight,suflicient to make such a light ladder yielding or flimsy in character.This construction, then, combines as does no ordinary construction,lightness, rigidity, strength and low cost, which are of controllingimportance, practically. It may be noted, also, that besides affordingno joints within which rust may work concealed injury and ultimatelylead to accident, the ladder has no sharp angles to injure the hands,nor portions likely to catch clothing or the like.

Figs. 4 ando show the stile members as consisting of channel iron 11having flanges 12, 13 welded to the rungs 14, thus giving some of theadvantages of the preferred construction. In both forms, the parts areunited by welding small areas at materially separated points, so thatwelding at any point cannot injure the weld at any other point-, amatter of considerable importance, practic-ally.

IVhat I claim is:

1. A ladder composed of two stile pieces on each side all integrallyconnected by rungs each inwardly bent at each end, one of said stilepieces on each side being united to the inwardly bent portions of therungs and the other to the port-ions between the bends.

2. A ladder having on each side two stile pieces one integrally unitedto inwardly bent end portions of a series of rungs and the othersimilarly united to the rungs between the inwardly bent portions, theinwardly bent ends of some of the rungs being provided with eyes forattaching them to a wall.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto sub scribed my name on this 13th dayof November, 1913, in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

WILLIAM ERASTUS WILLIAMS.

lVitnesses N. M. Hynancnn, I-Iownnn M. KnnrE.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G.

